Love is Unpredictable And it Hurts
by ReallyObsessiveWriter
Summary: Lily Truscott is your not your ordinary high school girl. She dresses like a skater, has the mind of a nerd... and has fallen in love with her best friend, Miley Stewart.
1. Prologue: Unexpected Love

_**Okay, I know that this is way too short for a first chapter, so I'm not even going to try to make any excuses. And I know I should be working on my other stories, and I shouldn't be making excuses for this one, either, but I'm just stuck. I started writing, and this is what came out. For all of you who don't like Hannah Montana… please don't beat me up.**_

I'm a smart girl, and I like things to make sense. The way I think is different from the way other sixteen-year-old girls do. If you open up their book bags, the things you'll probably find are makeup bags, hairbrushes, pictures of crushes, notes written to each other in class, and mirrors. The only books you'll find in there are romance novels. When you look in _my_ book bag… you'll find schoolbooks, calculators, pencils and pens, erasers, and notebooks full of notes from class.

My mind is a lot different. While other girls think about boys and how they look, I think about geometry proofs and sentence structures. To put it simply: I am a nerd.

Now I'm not ashamed of being a nerd, I'm sort of proud of it. Of course, you would never tell that I was a nerd just by looking at me. To everyone at school, I'm a skater girl wearing cargo pants, hoodies, converse shoes, knit hats, wristbands, and wacky colors. I'm also known for rambling on about things that don't really matter, like I'm doing right now.

Anyways, before I go off-topic again, I'm going to tell you my story. My name is Lily Truscott, I'm sixteen years old, and I go to Seaview High School. My two best friends are Miley Stewart and Oliver Oaken. When I was little, my parents got divorced, so I stayed in Los Angeles with my mom.

You know how people always say that love is unpredictable? And you know how that is so cliché? Well, I don't care how cliché it sounds, but love is unpredictable. I should know, because I've fallen in love. I, Lily Truscott, of all people, have fallen in love. Not the sort of thing where you obsess for a few weeks, date for a few weeks, and then break up, never to speak gain. This is that soul mate stuff people dream about.

The really unpredictable part is about who I fell in love with. I fell in love with my best friend. I, Lily Truscott, have fallen in love with my best friend, Miley Stewart.

It was never supposed to happen like this. My mom always told me that I would find some nice boy in college, date him until we graduated, get married, and then have four kids and live a long happy life with my husband. Instead, I've fallen in love with a girl, with whom I can never have children, and can probably never legally marry. That is, if my confession doesn't ruin our friendship, first.

That's the part that I'm most worried about, losing Miley as a friend. Sometimes she can let me down, but she's always there to help her when I really need her. She's the best friend I could ever have, and I don't want to ruin that.

I don't know how she'll react when I tell her… that is, _if_ I tell her, that I like her. And I don't know how Oliver will react, or my mom, or Mr. Stewart, or the school, or… or basically anyone. This is the one thing that my brains will not help me with. I'm all alone on this one, and for the first time in my life, I'm really, truly scared about what will happen to me. Because love is unpredictable, and sometimes… sometimes it hurts.

_**Well, there you go. Hope you liked it. PLEASE review. I promise I'll get back to my other stories as soon as my muse decides to get around to them. And I will be torturing my muse to get around to them, trust me. I don't like to leave things unfinished. I really appreciate all thoughts, comments, and suggestions, so, again, please REVIEW! Thanks!**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	2. Chapter One: Just Friends

_**Okay, here's the next chapter. I've changed it up a little, but it's all part of what I want to do. It isn't in first person anymore, so don't be surprised. I really don't like writing stories like this in first person, it makes it a little more difficult. Well, enjoy, and don't forget to tell me what you think!**_

Lily pulled her hoodie over her head, swinging her book bag over her shoulder and grabbing the toast her mom had put out on the table for her, and darted to the door. She was running late, just like she always did, and was going to miss walking to school with Miley if she didn't hurry up. Slipping into the pair of converse shoes thrown to the side of the door, she yelled to her mom that she was leaving and then slammed the door behind her, wincing when she heard her mom telling her, just like she always did, not to slam the door.

Miley was waiting in front of her house on the sidewalk, and amused smile on her face, her arms crossed over her chest, and her left foot tapping the cement impatiently as Lily struggled to get her arms through the sleeves of her hoodie. After a moment, she grabbed Lily's book bag from her, dumping it on the ground, and helped her with the hoodie.

"Thanks," Lily said, picking her bag back up and slinging it back over her shoulder.

"You would think that you didn't want to get to school," Miley said as they started to walk down the sidewalk towards Seaview High School. "I mean, between forgetting everything, by the way, you forgot your skateboard, getting up late, and eating breakfast on the way to school, it doesn't look like you're the straight-A student you are."

But Lily didn't hear half of what she said because she had to run back to her house and get her skateboard, helmet, and pads out of the garage. She skated up next to Miley and looking down at her, grinning. "What were you saying?" she asked.

"Nothing," Miley sighed, shaking her head.

"Sorry," Lily said through a bite of toast. "You know I always get up late, and you know that I love school. My mom said that it's just a phase and that I'll get over it soon enough."

"And you believe her?" Miley asked incredulously, raising her eyebrows at Lily. "I mean, she said that you skateboarding was a phase, too, but you're still riding a skateboard after what? Seven years? Come on, Lil, you know that most of the things your mom says aren't true."

"She predicted the end of the grand finale of that TV show last week," Lily said, spraying Miley with crumbs.

"Lily!" Miley yelled, brushing off the front of her shirt. "That's disgusting; don't talk with your mouth full! And besides, I said _most_ of thing things she says aren't true, not _all_ of the things she says."

"Sorry," Lily said again, actually meaning it this time.

They walked, or rather, Miley walked and Lily skateboarded, the rest of the way to school in a comfortable silence. These were the moments Lily cherished the most, the way Miley could understand her, and vice versa, without actually having to say anything.

Lily picked up her skateboard as they entered school grounds, throwing it in her locker as she opened it up and piling her helmet and pads on top of it. Next to her, Miley fixed her makeup in the mirror she had put in her locker.

"You know, you don't have to do that," Lily said.

"What?" Miley asked, looking away from the mirror.

"You don't have to fix your makeup every time you go to your locker," Lily said, gathering her books and slamming the locker door shut. "I mean, you look perfectly fine the way you are right now."

"But I can't look 'perfectly fine,'" Miley said, looking back at her mirror and pulling out some mascara. "I need to look perfect. Today is Jake Ryan's last day of school before he moves, and I want him to ask me out. Maybe if he really likes me, he'll come back everyday to see me, and give me calls, and write me letters…"

"Well, there's your Jake Ryan right there," Lily muttered, making Miley turn around to see him walking down the hall. "I'll see you in English."

She headed to her math class, slamming her books down on her desk and slumping in her chair. Oliver sat down next to her, taking in her expression.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," Lily muttered.

"Come on, Lily, I know you," he said. "Is this some girl thing? Did you have a fight with Miley or something?"

"I said nothing happened," Lily said, turning away.

He sighed. "Come on, Lil, don't you trust me?" he asked. "We've been best friends since preschool."

"Oliver, sometimes… sometimes you can't always tell your best friend everything," Lily said. "Sometimes it's best just to keep your mouth shut and your head down and just pretend that nothing happened."

"So something _did_ happen," Oliver said, grinning, and Lily just groaned and turned away, getting out her math homework and shooting glares at Amber and Ashley, who sat on the other side of the room. The bell rang and everyone rushed to their seats as the teacher stood up and started to collect homework.

Lily sat through the class not paying attention, scribbling all over a page in her notebook to make it look like she was actually taking notes. Luckily, the teacher didn't notice that she wasn't paying attention and didn't call on her the whole class. When the bell rang, Lily slowly packed her things away and headed out the door, not bothering to write down the homework assignment.

"Really, Lily, are you feeling okay?" Oliver asked as they walked to English. "You don't look too good."

"Thanks, Oliver, that really makes me feel better," Lily said sarcastically as they sat down in their usual seats. Miley wasn't there yet and Lily had a feeling that she was with Jake Ryan somewhere, probably trying to get him to ask her out on a date. Lily sighed and took out the book they were reading, _The Scarlett Letter_.

"Should I tell Miley?" Oliver asked.

"Do whatever you want," Lily said, putting her head down on her desk. "I honestly don't care."

Miley walked in and Oliver got up to go talk to her. Lily knew that he was telling Miley about her, but she really didn't care, and she didn't think Miley would care, either. She heard Miley walk past her and sit down in the desk in front of her.

"Hey, Lily, do you want to tell me what's up?" Miley asked, turning around in her seat to face Lily. "Oliver said that you weren't feeling too good. You were perfectly fine this morning. Or, at least you seemed fine."

"I _am_ fine," Lily said.

"Mrs. Reynolds," Miley said, standing up and addressing their English teacher. "Would you mind if Lily and I went to our lockers? We forgot something and we need to go get it."

"Do _both_ of you need to go to your lockers?" Amber asked.

"Amber, please, I'm the teacher and I make the decisions," Mrs. Reynolds said. "Go ahead; just make sure that you don't come back too late. And don't take any detours, either. Grab the pass."

"Thanks," Miley said, grabbing Lily by the wrist and dragging her out of the classroom. She led her to the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind her. "Okay, Lily, what's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing," Lily said, trying to get to the door, but Miley stood in front of it, crossing her arms over her chest. "Come on, Miley; just let me go back to class. We're wasting time here."

"I'm not stupid, Lily," Miley said. "Look, if you have a problem with me, I would much rather you told me rather than keeping it to yourself, and letting it fester."

"Do you even know what that means?" Lily asked incredulously.

"No, but that isn't the point!" Miley said, making Lily laugh.

"Look, nothing's wrong, nothing's happening, and I just really want to get back to class," Lily said, trying to push past Miley.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me," Miley said.

"How's that going to affect me?" Lily asked. "You can stay here for as long as you want, and I won't care. Besides, you'll probably leave to go try to get Jake to ask you out."

"Is that what this is about?" Miley asked.

"Maybe it is," Lily said defensively. "You've spent so much time dwelling on Jake recently that you haven't been giving any attention to Oliver or me. All you do at lunch is stare at him, you can't talk about anything or anyone but him, and you have this obsession with how you look because you don't think he'll ask you out unless you look perfect! It's getting on my nerves, Miley."

"All you had to do was tell me," Miley whispered.

Lily looked down at her feet. "It's just… it was so hard to get a word in edgewise and tell you how I felt," she muttered. "And… and I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"No, you should've told me sooner," Miley said. "You're right, I've been obsessing over Jake too much. If he hasn't asked me out by now, he probably won't ever ask me out. I should spend time with the people I know are my friends. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Lily said.

"Hey, how about you come over tonight?" Miley asked brightly. "It's a Friday, so we can rent a whole bunch of movies and have a marathon. You bring the movies and I'll provide the snacks."

"Okay!" Lily said. "What type of movies do you want to watch?"

Miley shrugged. "Just pick some," she said. "I don't care what type, as long as they aren't too cheesy."

"Friends?" Lily asked, holding out her arms for a hug.

"Friends," Miley said, hugging her quickly before running back to class.

"There's one more thing," Lily whispered to herself. "I love you."

_**Well, there you go! I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think, please; I really appreciate all thoughts, comments, and suggestions. Thank you to: All Seeing All Knowing and Megyn129 for reviewing the last chapter. And thank you to all of my readers, as well. Once again, I really appreciate it. REVIEW PLEASE. Sorry, I don't think I can get that in there enough. And I can't get too many reviews! Thanks again!**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	3. Chapter Two: Need to Tell You

_**Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it. Enjoy!**_

Pulling out her book bag, Lily yelled to her mom that she was going to be spending the night at Miley's. She stuffed a pair of pajamas and a change of clothes in the bag along with deodorant, toothpaste, a hairbrush, and her toothbrush. If she forgot anything, she could always borrow something of Miley's, or just use something she had left there before.

Closing the front door behind her, she heard her mom yell for her not to slam the door, wincing when she heard the loud slam. Before her mom could come out of her office, she grabbed her skateboard, strapped on her pads, pulled her helmet off, and started towards Miley's house. She hadn't gotten the movies they were going to watch, yet, but she would just stop at the Family Video on her way there.

Opening the door to the Family Video, she ignored the distrustful look of the woman standing behind the counter. She was tempted to flip her off, but knew that if her mother ever found out, she would be in really big trouble. So she just headed to the back of the store and grabbed some horror movies off one of the shelves, a couple romances off another, and threw in an Indiana Jones movie just for kicks. Going up to the woman, she piled the movies on the counter and pulled out her wallet.

"If you're using a credit card, I'm going to need to see an id," the woman said snobbishly.

"I have cash," Lily said, slapping a twenty-dollar bill on the counter next to the movies. The woman took the money and looked at it warily. "It's not a fake," Lily said. "You can check with that stupid marker they use on hundred dollar bills if you want."

The woman looked at her with a disgusted look on her face before ringing up all of the DVDs for her and giving her the change. "Those're due in a week," the woman said grumpily as Lily put them in her book bag. "You'll have to pay for them if you ruin them, though."

"Yeah, whatever," Lily said, running out of the Family Video and throwing her board down on the ground, jumping on it and heading towards Miley's house. All the lights were out when she got there and the door was locked, so she checked under the doormat for the spare key. For some reason, someone had put it back, so she sat down on the bench to wait for Miley to come back. She was sure that she had run out of popcorn or something and had run to the store to get it.

Half an hour later, she was still sitting on the bench just outside Miley's door. She looked at her watch and sighed, pulling out her iPod and turning on her music. Peering through the windows, she thought she saw some movement inside the house and knocked on the door, hoping someone would hear her. Three hours later she decided to go home and throw herself a pity party.

Telling her mom that she forgot Miley was going out tonight with her family, she went up to her room and dumped the movies she had gotten on the floor, going downstairs to the kitchen to get some food. Popping some popcorn in the microwave, she grabbed a bag of chips, a one-gallon tub of ice cream, and a spoon. She headed back up to her room, popping in the first movie.

After watching _The Notebook_, _A Walk to Remember_, and _Titanic_, Lily was sick of watching romance movies. She had been reduced to tears so many times that she wanted to throw up. Throwing the movies to the side, she picked up the Indiana Jones movie and stuck it in, taking it out after the first five minutes and sticking in a horror movie instead. She watched _The Ring_, _Saw 1_, _Mirrors_,and _Arachnophobia_, and was thoroughly freaked out by the time she was supposed to get up to eat breakfast.

Standing up, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the mess that surrounded her. An empty one-gallon ice cream tub lay on the floor, a plastic spoon sticking out of it. The bag of potato chips she had grabbed had been spilled all over the floor and she had eaten all of the popcorn, but the bowl she had put it in was upended.

Her phone rang, blaring out lyrics from one of Hannah Montana's songs. "You're a true friend; you're here till the end…" She picked it up, ready to tell Miley off about forgetting about her the night before.

There was labored breathing on the other end of the line, as if someone had been crying, or was crying. "Lily?"

"Miley, is that you?" Lily asked, sitting down on her bed.

"Yeah."

Lily got angry then. She asked a question and all she gets is a one-word answer when the night before, Miley had ditched her. The least she could do is give her a good answer to a question. "Where were you last night? You told me that I could come over and we would have a movie marathon, but I waited out there for three hours and you didn't come."

"I'm sorry," Miley whispered.

"_I'm sorry!_" Lily yelled. "You ditch me when you said that you'd hang out with me and all that you have is _I'm sorry?_"

"Things got carried away last night," Miley said, and Lily realized that she sounded tired. "I'm really sorry I didn't call you earlier, and I'm sorry that you waited for three hours. This is my fault."

"Where were you?" Lily asked.

"Jake asked me…" Miley started.

"Of course, I should have guessed that it would be Jake," Lily said scornfully. "You know, I don't even want to talk to you right now. I can't believe that you abandon your best friend for a guy who isn't even sticking around. Am I even your best friend?"

"Yeah, Lily, listen, I'm sorry," Miley said desperately. "I know I really screwed up this time, and I'm really sorry, and there's nothing I can really do to make it up to you. But… but I really need you now, Lily."

"Why should I help you when you abandoned me?" Lily asked sitting down on her bed. "You've done nothing to show me that you aren't just going to use me and then abandon me again."

"I can't promise you that that won't happen," Miley said, "but I can promise you that I'll try to be the best friend I can possibly be. Please, Lily, I need you here. I… I'm scared, Lily, please."

"Is something wrong?" Lily asked worriedly. "Are you hurt?"

"Please just… just come over," Miley whimpered. "I'm really sorry about what I did too you, but I really need you, please. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Lily hesitated. "I'll be right over," she said. "Just… don't leave your house."

She hung up her phone and stuck it in her pocket, brushing out her hair and quickly putting it up in a ponytail. Rushing down the stairs, she yelled to her mom that she was going over to Miley's house.

"Don't slam the…" her mother started, but she slammed the door shut behind her, grabbing her bike out of the garage and mounting it, not bothering to put on her helmet. She pedaled as fast as she could, almost running over an old lady on the way to her mailbox and crossing the street in front of a truck. Dumping her bike in front of Miley's house, Lily rushed inside, bursting through the door and running up to Miley's room.

Miley was laying on her bed, tears streaming down her face, her clothes covered in dirt and dust, and cuts and scrapes covering her exposed skin. She looked up when Lily came in and bit her lip, holding back a sob.

"What happened?" Lily whispered, sitting down and gently touching Miley's arm. Miley hissed in pain and tore her arm away from Lily, cradling it with her other arm as she began to sob.

"I'm sorry," Lily said. "Here, let me see your arm, I promise I won't touch it. I just want to make sure it isn't hurt too badly. Pull up your sleeve for me."

Lily gasped as she saw the bruises that ran up Miley's arm. "What happened to you?" she whispered.

"Jake stopped by and said that he really liked me," Miley whispered. "He said that he wanted to take me out on a date before he left, and if it worked out, he'd come back every day and take me out."

"What did that bastard do to you?" Lily hissed, her eyes narrowing. "I swear, if he even touched you in the wrong way, I'm going to hunt him down and kill him."

"No, it wasn't him," Miley whispered, tears sparkling in her eyes. "He… after the date, he said he didn't like me anymore and dropped me off at a street corner. I didn't know where I was, and I had my cell phone, but my dad is in New York City for a week, my brother at college, and you… I was afraid that you would just tell me that you told me that this would happen and then just hang up."

"Oh, no, I would never say that," Lily said. "I mean, I probably would, but I would come and pick you up first and make sure you were okay before I said anything like that." She was trying to get Miley to smile, but it wasn't working.

"Some guys drove up in a truck," she whispered. "They were all drunk, you could tell from a mile away. The truck was swerving back and forth on the road all over the place, and when they got out, they all stumbled all over the place."

"Why didn't you call 911?" Lily asked.

"I wasn't thinking," Miley said. "One of them grabbed me by the arm and they pushed me around a lot. I think if they hadn't been as drunk they would have… done something worse." She shuddered and Lily gently pulled her into a hug, mindful of the bruises she had.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered, rocking her back and forth. "Do you want me to get anything? I can go grab the movies I rented and we can watch those, or I can run out and get some of that Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream."

"No, I just want you to stay here with me," she whispered. "I don't want to be alone. What if those guys come back, or what if someone breaks into the house?" She shivered and Lily let go of her, taking her by the chin and making her look in her eyes.

"Those men are never going to come after you again," she said. "The only reason they bothered you was because they were drunk and they had no idea what they were doing. In reality, they're just heartless cowards who would get scared at the sight of their own shadows. And as long as I'm here, no one is going to hurt you."

"Lily, I'm so sorry about…" Miley started, but Lily put a finger on her lips, shaking her head.

"Its fine, I've already forgotten about it," she whispered. "Let's just worry about you right now, okay? I'll go get the first aid kit and we'll see what we can do about those scrapes and bruises."

She fled to the bathroom before Miley could protest, her heart racing in her chest. There was something about Miley right now that just… made her overprotective, made her want to hunt those men down, mad her want to hunt _Jake _down, and rip them apart. This wasn't something she should be feeling towards her best friend. It was something more than she had ever experienced before, something that confused her.

Rummaging through the cabinets, she finally located the first aid kit and walked back into Miley's bedroom, laying the kit on the bed and spreading it out. Carefully and tenderly, she cleaned and bandaged the cuts and put the kit on the dresser, sitting cross-legged facing Miley.

"They didn't… do anything else to you, did they?" Lily asked cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Miley asked, confused.

"I mean, like, they didn't… rape you or anything?" Lily asked.

Miley's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No, thank God," she whispered. "I don't know what I would have done if they had… I probably wouldn't even be here right now. The police probably would have picked me up on the side of the road."

"Don't say that!" Lily said fiercely, surprising Miley into tears again. "Oh, don't cry, let's just… don't dwell on what could have happened. You weren't raped, and that's good. Let's just deal with what really did happen."

"You're the best friend I could ever have," Miley whispered, picking at the threads coming loose on her comforter.

"No I'm not," Lily whispered, surprising both Miley and herself. "Miley, there's something I need to tell you."

_**Well, there you go. Cliffhanger, heeheehee! Maybe I'll update later today if I get enough reviews. The more reviews, the sooner I update. Sorry, I'm just being a mean person right now. I'm just getting so few reviews, and I really love reviews. They make me feel better when I'm feeling down. Well, thank you to everyone who made me feel better by reviewing the last chapter:**_

_**Dragon-Eye**_

_**scullymulder**_

_**lil-ying-fa**_

_**Megyn129**_

_**And thank you to all of my readers. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE review, I would really appreciate it. I really do appreciate all thoughts, comments, and suggestions, so REVIEW. Thank you all again!**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	4. Chapter Three: Hurt

_**NEW CHAPTER!!! Okay, I just realized that I left a chapter out. I have no idea how I did this. Okay, now I know why a lot of people have been asking how Lily got hurt. I'm so sorry about this, and now this is all going to be messed up. Well, I'm fixing it, so here you go. This is the real chapter three. Sorry again!**_

Lily caught her breath, her eyes widening when she realized what she had just said. She had never planned to say that to Miley, never had she planned to tell her that… now everything was going to be ruined, Miley would never want to be friends with her, Oliver would find out, and then everyone in the whole school would know...

"Hey, Lily, are you okay?" Miley asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

"Yeah, uh, I'm fine," she said.

"What were you going to tell me?" Miley asked, looking at her curiously.

"I, uh, I… I was going to…" She couldn't believe that she was doing this. This was actually going to happen. After three years, she was finally going to tell Miley about this feeling that had been developing deep down inside of her. At first, she hadn't recognized it, but now…

"Are you sure you're okay?" Miley asked. "Hey, look, if me ditching you last night really hurt you that much, you don't have to…"

"No, no, I'm fine," Lily said quickly, cutting Miley off. "Honestly, I wasn't thinking about that at all. It's just… there's something I've been wanting to tell you for awhile, and it's really hard to put into words."

"Well, you can go ahead and say whatever you want to," Miley said, taking her pillow and hugging it close to her chest. "I'm not going to get mad at you. I mean, not after what I've done to you, and after what you've done for me. You're the best friend anyone could ever have."

"Please stop saying that," Lily said, kneading her forehead with her knuckles.

"But it's true…"

"Just don't," Lily said, looking up, tears starting to fill up her eyes. "Look, I know that's what you think, but it isn't true. I'm the most horrible friend anyone could have, the most horrible friend _you_ could have. Oh God, how do I explain this?"

"Lily, is something wrong?" Miley asked, her eyes wide with worry. "You… you're scaring me."

"Yes, yes, that's good!" Lily exclaimed, jumping off the bed and backing away from Miley. "You should be scared of me! Don't ever talk to me again, don't come near me, pretend I don't even exist!"

"What's going on?" Miley asked, starting to cry again.

"I… I… there's been something happening to me, Miley," Lily said, looking down at her hands. "It's been happening for awhile, but I've just recently realized what it actually means. I've been feeling… different. Not a good different, a bad different. I think. This is too hard, just kill me now."

Miley was suddenly standing in front of her, grasping both of her hands. "Lily, whatever it is, I'll be here for you," she said. "I promise, I won't get mad."

"I like you, Miley," Lily whispered, unable to look Miley in the eyes.

She laughed. "Well I should hope so, after being friends for what, three years?"

"Not like that," Lily whispered, and Miley stopped laughing. "I… I 'like' like you. Like the way you liked Jake, except a lot more, tons more, the most I've ever liked somebody, or you've ever liked somebody, or anyone's ever liked anybody."

Lily looked up at Miley, who was standing there, a surprised expression on her face, still holding her hands. She pried her hands out of Miley's, taking another step back, and then another. Miley didn't seem to notice. Her eyes seemed far away. "Look, Miley, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be here right now," Lily said. "This is… this is wrong, and I shouldn't have said anything. I should have just made up some excuse not to be friends with you. I'm sorry."

"Why?" Miley asked.

"What?" Lily asked, confused.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Miley asked, shaking her head and looking at Lily. "Did you not trust me enough to tell me? Did you want to keep it a secret from me? Did you want to… to try and get close enough to me to guilt me into starting a relationship with you?"

"No, I…"

"Did you think that maybe I would start to like you, too?" Miley asked a little louder. "Did you think that maybe I would forget everything that happened with Jake Ryan, praise you, and then fall in love with my savior? Because it isn't going to happen Lillian Truscott!"

Lily recoiled as if she had been slapped. Miley had never used her fully name before. She shook her head, backing away from her, towards the doorway leading out to the hall. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry." And then she turned and ran.

Grabbing her bike from where it had been thrown on the sidewalk, she threw her leg over the seat and started pedaling, trying to keep from crying. She should have known that Miley would hate her for the way she felt about her. And she should have known better than to actually tell her how she felt.

Tears blinded her as she pedaled quickly down the sidewalk. She could hear people yelling at her, telling her to slow down, but she ignored them. Suddenly, she felt her bike stop, but she kept going forward. There was the feeling of flying, and then landing. Pain shot through every bone in her body, and she could hear people gathering around her, screaming, calling her name, crying.

There was a blinding light and she squeezed her eyes shut. Then everything was dark. She opened her eyes and she couldn't see anything. Things rustled all around her, horrifying sounds, but nothing she could see, only darkness. The scrape of something against wood, metal clanging against metal, nails on a chalkboard, the howling of wild animals, growling, chanting, swearing, laughing, shouting. All of the sounds bombarded her and she started to scream, trying the block them out of her mind, but she couldn't move her arms, she couldn't move her body, she couldn't speak. She could only scream and scream and scream.

LILLIANTRUSCOTTLILLIANTRUSCOTLILLIANTRUSCOTTLILLIANTRUSCOTT

Lily woke up to the sound of beeping, relieved that she could see, even if the only thing she could see was the white ceiling above her. She was laying on her back on a bed, her hair spread out under her head, tickling the back of her neck. Wanting to itch it, she tried to move her arm, but found that she couldn't feel it. Scrunching her eyebrows together, she found that she couldn't move anything below her neck. She tried to move her head, but a sharp pain ran through her and she gave up.

"Miss Truscott, can you hear me?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yes," she rasped, wincing at the pain in her dry throat.

"Here, your throat is probably dry, let me get you some water to drink," the woman said. "I'll be right back, okay? Don't move."

_As if I could,_ Lily thought to herself.

A moment later, she heard a door open and footsteps, and she sensed someone at the side of her bed. Someone leaned over her, casting a shadow on her face. She could make out the face of a woman, brown eyes, wrinkles, a tight line for a mouth, and a pointy nose. She immediately dubbed her the Wicked Witch of the West for the fierce look she had on her face.

"Here's a straw you can sip through," the woman said kindly, putting the tip of a straw at her mouth. "Try not to drink to fast or too much, the doctors don't want you to get sick. Just take small sips. There's a girl."

The straw was pulled away and Lily heard the cup set on a table to her right. The woman disappeared from her view for a moment and then reappeared.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

Lily considered the question for a moment. "Like someone shot me in the head and then cut off my body," she said. "I can't feel anything below my neck."

The woman nodded. "Good," she said. "The doctor gave you some medication so you can't feel any pain below your neck. Do you remember anything that happened at all before this?"

Miley ditching her to go out with Jake Ryan, the school hottie. Waiting for three hours outside her house. Throwing herself a pity party. Getting the call from Miley. Hearing from Miley that she had been beat up. Telling her that she loved her. Miley's surprised face. _"Did you think that maybe I would forget everything that happened with Jake Ryan, praise you, and then fall in love with my savior? Because it isn't going to happen Lillian Truscott!"_ Grabbing her bike from in front of Miley's house and pedaling down the sidewalk. Tears streaming down her face as she rode her bike. Pain, incredible pain. Then darkness.

"Kind of wish I didn't remember," she muttered, and the woman smiled, revealing perfectly even, white teeth.

"It's good that you remember," she said cheerfully, disappearing from her line of vision again. "That means that you don't have amnesia."

_Amnesia,_ Lily thought to herself. _Complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain memory or shock._ "What happened to me?" she asked.

"Well, the man that called 911 said that you had been riding your bike a little too fast without a helmet and that the front wheel of your bike hit a rock," the woman said. "When the ambulance got there, they found you knocked out cold with a very big bump on your head."

"You know, I would really appreciate it if you would stop talking to me like I'm a little kid," Lily snapped, and the pain in her head got stronger. "I'm sixteen years old and I think I deserve to be treated as an adult."

"Okay, then, I'll treat you like an adult," the woman said, and Lily heard the scrape of something across the floor. "What do you want to know?"

"How bad am I hurt?"

Lily could hear the rustling of papers and the woman cleared her throat. "It looks when you flew off your bike, you did a flip in the air and landed on your back," she said. "You seem to have broken several of your vertebrae, some bones in your shoulders, and your left hip bone. It also looks like you have a small crack in the back of your skull, but it isn't anything the doctors are worried about now that you've woken up."

"And what would have happened if I hadn't woken up?" Lily asked. Now that the woman mentioned it, she could feel something hurting in the back of her head.

"Then the doctors would be very worried that you would never wake up again," the woman said, and there was a smack as she set something down on a table to the right side of Lily's bed. "But that doesn't matter anymore, because you woke up and you're going to be fine. Now I'm going to get the doctor. You just stay here."

"What am I supposed to do, grow wings and fly away?" Lily asked. "It's not like I can move, anyways. Remember, I can't feel anything below my neck?"

She could almost see the woman smiling, and then there were footsteps, the sound of a door opening, and then closing.

_**Okay, once again, I'm really sorry about messing this up. I'm getting this sorted out now, so please review this chapter. This is the newest chapter, so please review this one. Thank you all for hanging in there with me.**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	5. Chapter Four: Lost Opportunities

Two weeks later, Lily was back home in her bedroom waiting for her mom to bring some food up for her to eat. The doctor had given her strict orders to walk around as little as possible because of her broken hip. Her mom had bought a new TV for her and hooked up the DVD player so it sat on the nightstand right by her bed. There was a stack of books on the floor on the right side of her bed and a stack of DVDs on the left side of her bed.

"Hey, Lily, you have a visitor!" her mom yelled up the stairs. "And your food will be ready in about ten minutes!"

"Okay!" Lily yelled back.

She muted the TV and stared expectantly at the closed door for Oliver to come in. He had pretty much been the only one to visit her when she had been in the hospital other than her mom. Mr. Stewart had come once with a "Getter Better" card signed by him, Miley, and Jackson. She had desperately wished that Miley had come and visited her, but she didn't blame her for hating her.

What she wished the most was that she had never told Miley how she really felt. She had been perfectly fine with keeping her feelings to herself before, but in that one moment, she had messed everything up. If only she had kept her mouth closed and continued on as usual, she wouldn't be bedridden for another couple of weeks, beating herself up over ruining her friendship with Miley, and watching reruns of _Friends_.

There was a knock on the door and it creaked open to reveal Miley standing on the threshold. She had a hesitant look on her face and shuffled into the room, holding a couple papers tightly in her left hand and a guitar in her right hand. "Hey, do you mind if I come in?" she whispered.

Lily hesitated. "Um, yeah, sure," she said. "You, can, um… clear a chair off if you want. I just… it's hard for me to get stuff, you know?"

Miley bit her lip nervously and nodded, setting her guitar down on the floor gently, clearing some books from school off a chair, and pulling it up to the side of Lily's bed. She picked up her guitar, setting it on her lap, and stared down at the pattern on the comforter of Lily's bed. "I came to apologize," she whispered.

"You don't have to, you know," Lily said quickly, making Miley look up in astonishment. "I completely understand if… if you…" She broke down and started to cry, which only surprised Miley more.

"I'm so sorry," Miley whispered. "It's just… it's hard to explain. Here, I… I wrote something for you and I… I want to play it for you. You don't mind, do you?"

Lily shook her head, crying harder. She had ruined everything with Miley and now Miley was going to tell her that they couldn't be friends anymore.

Miley set the papers up on top of a stack of books and strummed her guitar, humming. Then she started to play a soft tune, completely focused on the fingerings on her guitar and the pick in her hand. She finally opened her mouth and started to sing.

"_I've been in a rut, back and forth enough, heart like a wheel_," she sang softly, glancing up at her music sheets every now and then. "_Without you around, so uncomfortable is how it feels. Every time you're near trouble disappears under the ground. But when you go too far silver clouds'll start hanging around._"

She glanced up at Lily, who still had tears streaming down her face, and stopped singing and playing her guitar, dropping it to the floor and sitting gently on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you, I'm sorry that I haven't come and visited you, and I'm sorry that I didn't come sooner. This is all my fault."

"You hate me," Lily whispered.

"What makes you think that?" Miley asked. "Were you just listening to what I was singing?"

"When you go too far silver clouds'll start hanging around?" Lily asked, turning her bloodshot eyes on Miley. "You're saying that you don't want to be near me. You're saying that it's better when we aren't together. You hate me."

"No, no, that isn't what it means," Miley said. "It means you go too far trying to please me, being my friend. You do stuff that any normal person wouldn't. Like when you came over to my house after I ditched you because I sounded upset. You do stuff for me and I don't know why because a lot of the time, I act like a complete idiot and treat you really bad."

"You don't treat me bad," Lily said, her crying starting to abate.

"Remember when I crashed your sixteenth birthday party as Hannah Montana?" Miley asked. "And that time when you got a date with that guy and I told you what to do and he ditched you to go with someone else? Then I ditched you the other night…"

"I think I get the picture," Lily said, smiling, and then she paused. "So… does this mean that you don't hate me?" she whispered.

"Of course I don't hate you, Lily," Miley said, taking Lily's good hand and lacing their fingers together. "You're my best friend. I mean, we've always had our fights and we've always made up, haven't we?"

"Yeah," Lily said quietly, disappointed. She thought Miley was going to say that she liked her back, but she knew that was never going to happen. She should just be happy to have Miley back as a friend.

"There's… there's, um, one more thing," Miley said hesitantly, and Lily looked up with a confused expression on her face. "It's just, I've been thinking a lot since you told me that you liked me. I mean, it's like… I don't know, it's hard to explain. My dad hasn't made me go to school because of what happened to me, but I think… I think he knew that I couldn't go to school when you weren't there. It just wouldn't be the same without you."

"You'd have Oliver," Lily said sadly.

"That doughnut wouldn't understand any of what I was feeling," Miley, making Lily giggle. "I mean, he has the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"Wait, what have you been feeling?" Lily asked, and Miley looked away.

"A lot of stuff, actually," she said. "I mean, most of it was confusion until last night. Last night was… a sort of revelation I guess. Is that the right word?"

Lily nodded, encouraging Miley to continue.

"But, after you left, I felt just… confused. I wasn't angry or upset, just confused, because I just didn't get anything. I didn't get why I wasn't angry or why I just didn't tell you that I wasn't interested in a relationship and ask just to be friends. But last night… I forget exactly what I was listening to, I think it was a local radio station, but I suddenly got this flash of inspiration and I wrote this song."

She picked up her music and handed it to Lily, who studied it, ignoring the notes and focusing on the words. Her lips moved quietly as she read the lines to herself, her eyes widening in incredulity as she realized what the lyrics could possibly mean. "Do… do these mean what I think they mean?" she whispered after she was finished reading.

Miley bit her lip nervously and started babbling. "Lily, I'm really sorry about what I said and I didn't mean any of it. I know that this is a little late and you have every right to be upset with me, but I hope it isn't too late. Because I… I like you, Lily. I like you like I liked Jake Ryan, except a whole lot more and I… I don't know if I could live without you."

Lily stared at her, eyes wide, not believing what she was hearing. After a few minutes, Miley stood up, picking up the music sheets Lily had dropped and her guitar from the floor. "I probably should have never come, but I don't think I could have ever lived with myself if I had never said anything," she said. "Oliver's downstairs waiting to talk to you. I guess I'll see you at school when you get back. Get better soon."

Miley left the room and Lily got her voice back just as she heard the front door close. Tears started to stream down her face as she realized she had missed her chance to tell Miley that she still liked her.

_**Sorry. That's all I'm gonna say.**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	6. Chapter Five: Intervention

"You should go talk to her," Oliver said as he set Lily's food down at their lunch table. Miley had just been heading for the same table, but as soon as she saw Lily, she had turned around to go sit with Dandruff Danny.

It had been over a month since Miley had come to see Lily in her bedroom and they hadn't talked since. Lily knew there had been several phone calls between her mom and Mr. Stewart, and when her mom asked her why she wasn't talking to Miley, she had just shook her head. Miley seemed to be holding up the same way on the other side of their argument. Oliver had tried to get the two of them to talk, but nothing was working.

"Hey, could you at least tell me why you two aren't talking?" Oliver asked. "It isn't over some boy, is it? If it's because of Jake Ryan, all three of us know he's an idiot. And you know Miley didn't mean to ditch you when she went out with him. She already apologized."

"Did she tell you about that?" Lily asked incredulously.

"I asked her why you two were fighting and she mentioned something about ditching you and Jake Ryan. I just assumed that she had apologized," Oliver said, shrugging and sitting down next to her. Lily set her crutches down under the table so no one would trip over them and looked doubtfully at the mystery meat stew in front of her, desperately wishing she had let her mom pack something for her that morning.

"Well it isn't that," Lily said. "If she would just come over here and talk to me, everything would be sorted out and fine. It's her that's the problem. She won't make up her mind, you know? Do you know what the mystery meat is today?"

Oliver chewed thoughtfully. "It tastes like a combination of hotdog, hamburger, and meatloaf," he said after swallowing. "But there might be some old beef jerky in there, I can't tell."

Lily nodded and stuffed a spoonful of it in her mouth. If it past the health food inspection, it should be okay to eat. One of Amber and Ashley's followers was eating it, and she wasn't getting sick, so it had to be fine to eat.

"Could you just talk to her during class?" Oliver asked desperately. "She sits right behind you. It's really weird for you two to fight this long. I don't like it."

"Yeah, I don't like it either," Lily said. "If she doesn't want to talk to me, though, she doesn't have to. I'm not going to force her, okay?"

"She wants to talk to you, Lily," Oliver said, and Lily looked up to see Miley starting at her. Miley looked away when their eyes met, but Lily kept staring. "Come on, you have to see that she wants to talk to you. She messed up at her Hannah concert the other day and she ran off stage crying. There has to be something you can say to make things right again. I mean, even Amber and Ashley are talking about it. They stopped me in the middle of the hall the other day and said that if I don't get you two talking to each other again, they were going to make sure my life was… very unpleasant."

"This isn't any of Amber or Ashley's business," Lily snapped. "And it isn't any of my business how she does at one of her Hannah concerts. If it was my business, Miley would tell me that it was my business, okay?"

They were both quiet as Amber and Ashley walked over to their table. "Hey, Lily, can I talk to you, alone?" Amber asked, looking pointedly at Oliver and Ashley. "Here, Ashley will take care of the rest of your lunch and you can come to the bathroom with me."

Oliver shrugged as Lily glanced over at him and she nodded, picking her crutches up, hobbling off after Amber, who was already headed to the bathroom. As soon as they got in, Amber locked the door behind them and glared at Lily. "What are you and Miley doing?" she demanded.

"Is that any of your business?" Lily asked, offended.

"I've known for the longest time, and now you choose to stop being friends?" Amber asked. "Come on, what happened between the two of you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lily said, lifting herself onto the bathroom counter and leaning her crutches against the wall.

"The only reason I wanted to talk to you alone is because of this," Amber said. "I know that you like her, Lily, and I know that she likes you. It was like you were made for each other. Why can't the two of you just realize that? What happened between the two of you?"

"This isn't any of your business," Lily said stiffly.

"Do I need to get Miley in here, too?" Amber asked.

There was a knock on the door and Amber went over to it, unlocking it and opening it a crack to see who it was. She opened the door and pulled Miley and Ashley inside. "Look, you two get to talking or we're going to have to set up some serious gossip about you and send it around the school," Amber said. "My school has to be perfect, and you two are perfect, and I'm not going to stand for you to be stupid and look right past that. You have about fifteen minutes until lunch ends."

She shut the door behind her and Lily and Miley stared at each other. "Okay, what is this about?" Miley asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ashley just said someone was crying in the bathroom and that they were asking for me. It wasn't you, was it? And don't you dare tell me you've been planning this with Amber and Ashley because that's just low."

"I had no idea about this," Lily whispered.

"Well we can just sit here for fifteen minutes, pretend we talked, tell Amber that we couldn't work anything out, and go our own separate ways," Miley said, leaning against the counter.

"I saw you on TV the other day," Lily blurted out.

"So, I'm on TV all the time," Miley said indifferently.

"It was when you messed up and ran off the stage crying," Lily said. "And Oliver told me about it. He wants me to talk to you and he said that you wanted to talk to me, too."

"Well, I don't," Miley said coldly. "And it's not like you do any better on stage."

"Look, I'm not meaning to insult you," Lily said.

"You're doing any awfully good job of it," Miley retorted.

"What did I do to make you hate me?" Lily asked.

"I thought you hated me," Miley said, looking confused.

"You're the one who won't talk to me," Lily said. "You haven't called me, don't talk to me during class, and don't sit with me and Oliver at lunch. It's like you've been avoiding me for the past month. I've missed you, Miley."

Miley looked away. "I've missed you, too," she whispered. "But I thought… I thought you hated me because I yelled at you when you came over after I ditched you, and you didn't say anything after I told you… well, after I came over to your house."

"Amber knows," Lily whispered.

"Knows what?" Miley asked, eyes wide.

"She knows that we like each other," Lily whispered.

"But… how does she know? I didn't say anything, did you say something?" Miley asked, a panicked expression on her face.

"I don't think she's going to tell anyone," Lily said. "Not unless… what rumors do you think she's going to spread around the school?"

Miley shrugged.

"Look, Miley, I'm sorry," Lily said. "If I hadn't said anything, I wouldn't be hurt right now, we'd still be friends right now, and we wouldn't be locked in this bathroom with Amber and Ashley standing guard outside. I admit that it's all my fault, okay? Just… can we be friends, at least? It's weird not being friends with you. Even Oliver said so, and I… I miss it."

"Did I do something that… that made you not like me?" Miley asked, looking up at Lily with tears in her eyes. "Was I too late? Or was it because I yelled at you? What did I do and what can I do to fix it?"

Lily looked surprised. "I… I haven't stopped liking you, Miley," she whispered.

"You haven't?" Miley asked, her eyes widening.

"I like you a lot," Lily admitted. "But… I don't want you to like me just because I like you. I feel like that's the only reason you told me that you liked me. And I don't want our friendship to be ruined because of a relationship I forced you into."

"But it isn't like that," Miley said. "Lily, when have I ever written a song for someone?"

"Well, there was _One in a Million_ for Jake Ryan," Lily said.

"That doesn't count, my dad wrote most of that one," Miley said. "What other songs have I ever written for anyone? And dedications don't count, either, because I've dedicated songs to tons of people."

There was a moment of silence before Lily answered. "Never," she whispered.

"Wrong, I've written a song for one person," Miley said, pulling some sheet music out of her bag and handing it to Lily. Lily took it, reading the lyrics.

"But… but this is the song… that… you wrote this for me?" she whispered, looking up at Miley. "This is the song that you sang to me when… why didn't you tell me? I thought… oh my gosh, I can't believe…"

"Just give me a chance," Miley said. "I know I'm not a perfect person and that I can be an idiot sometimes, but I really like you Lily, more than I've ever liked anyone else. And I don't want to let this one go, Lily. And I most definitely don't want to lose you, not as a friend and… not as a potential girlfriend."

"Can… can I say something really quick?" Lily asked, and Miley nodded. "Before you freak out and leave or something stupid like that, I want to say that you never gave me a real chance when you came over to my house. I was shocked and I was trying to find something to say when you left. You never gave me the chance to answer, and I want you to give me the chance to answer now."

"Okay," Miley whispered.

"You've been my best friend for a long time," Lily said. "Ever since we first met, I knew that there was something special about you, something that wouldn't let us be just friends. And at first, I thought that meant that we were supposed to be best friends. But after awhile, I realized that that wasn't what it meant at all. It meant that we were supposed to be something beyond friends. I figured out that… that I liked you.

"I was scared of these… feelings, so I hid them and dated a couple boys, thinking that if I found one that I really liked, I would just forget about my feelings for you. But it didn't really work. Lucas didn't help the situation much, either."

They both grimaced as they remember Lucas. Or, as Miley called him, Lu-kissed-every-girl-in-school.

"And I just kind of stopped dating after Oliver," Lily said. "I mean, that was the limit to how far I would go to forget. It ruined my friendship with Oliver for a while, and I'm lucky that we're still friends. And after that, I watched you go through boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend, hoping that after one of them, you would look at me and like _me_."

She sighed. "And Jake Ryan was the limit on boys I could see you go through," she said. "It was horrible, watching you fixing up makeup you didn't even need, trying to be 'perfect' for him when you were already perfect. I wanted to just walk away and forget everything, but I couldn't, because every waking moment I spent with you, you were spouting out stuff about Jake this, or Jake that, hoping that he would realize how beautiful you were and ask you out."

"Lily…" Miley started, but Lily held up her hand, motioning for her to be quiet.

"And you just kept going back to him, no matter what he did to you," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "I kept trying to tell you that you needed someone who wouldn't dump you whenever he felt like it and then come back after he finished with some other girl. But I couldn't do anything really effective without telling you how I really felt about you, and I was too afraid to lose you as a friend to do that."

"Stop," Miley said, tears streaming down her face. "I… I'm sorry, Lily, I didn't realize you felt that way. I don't know what would have happened if you had told me about your feelings then, but right now, I know there isn't anyone I like more than I like you. And I hate to hear this stuff, because now I know how much I've hurt you."

"I really like you, Miley," Lily said. "But I don't want to get hurt again."

She got down off the counter with the help of her crutches, hobbling towards the door with tears still streaming down her face. Turning to Miley, she looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Miley, but I just can't do this," she whispered. She managed to open the door and walk out past Amber and Ashley, who both looked at her with questioning expressions on their faces.

"What…?" Amber started to ask.

"My hips are really bothering me," Lily muttered. "I'm going to the nurse."

Miley slipped out of the bathroom, looking at Amber and Ashley with a lost expression on her face. "She's gone," she whispered.

"I thought…" Amber started again.

"No, just… I can't take it," Miley whispered, heading back towards the cafeteria.

Oliver emerged from the boys' bathroom and looked at Amber and Ashley with a questioning expression on his face. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked. "And why have Miley and Lily been locked in the bathroom for the past fifteen minutes?"

"It isn't going to work," Ashley said as Amber shot a glaring look at Oliver, who just glared back at her and walked after Miley. "Should we move on to Plan B or just abandon everything?"

"Abandon everything?" Amber asked. "No, I'm not going to do that. It's on to Plan B, and this one is going to work. Now this is what I need you to do…"

Amber and Ashley slipped into the bathroom as the bell rang for the end of lunch, cell phones in their hands. They had a lot of texting to do.

_**I'm sorry. That's all I'm going to say.**_


	7. Chapter Six: Together

_**See the end of the chapter for an explanation. Sorry for all the confusion!**_

Oliver didn't bring up Miley the next day when he and Lily headed to school with her mom driving. They compared their math homework and Oliver managed to steal Lily's history homework long enough for him to copy the answers he hadn't gotten out of the book. He grabbed both of their book bags when the car came to a stop in front of their school and helped Lily inside to her locker. That was when Lily got the first comment.

"I see why you and Miley aren't friends anymore," a girl with multiple piercings said. "If she did that to me, I would be really upset. I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Hope you get better soon."

Lily looked at Oliver, who shrugged. Suddenly, taunting broke out in the middle of the hall and both of them turned to see Miley walking as fast as she could towards her locker, her face hidden by the hood of her sweatshirt and her shoulders shaking from what Lily presumed to be sobs. She opened her locker, pulling out a stack of books, and slamming it shut as she headed back out of the building.

"Where's she going?" Oliver asked.

"Here, take my stuff, I'm going to go talk to her," Lily said, heading after Miley. She could feel people staring at her in amazement, and she was sorely tempted to flip them off, but refrained, opening the door with one hand and swinging herself through on her crutches.

Whenever Miley got upset at school, she always headed to the same place. At the back of the school, there was a little copse of trees, and right in the middle was a large willow tree. She always sat beneath it, waiting for Lily to come and talk to her and convince her to come out. Lily hoped that it would work this time.

"Miley, it's me," Lily said as she came to the willow tree. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"Go ahead," Miley muttered, and Lily pulled back the drooping branches of the willow tree to see the brunette hugging her knees to her chest. Lily limped over to her, setting her crutches down on the ground and gently lowering herself into a sitting position.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lily asked. "Why's everyone being so mean to you?"

"Because I like girls," Miley muttered.

"That's stupid," Lily said. "I mean, the way Amber and Ashley treat each other is just like they were girlfriends. Except Amber is a little demeaning towards Ashley, but otherwise it's the same thing."

"They're the most popular girls in the school," Miley muttered. "No one would dare make fun of them. Besides, no one knows for sure if they're going out, they just suspect. Someone told the whole school that I'm gay."

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Lily said, putting an arm around Miley's shoulder as she started crying again. "Miley, look at me. It doesn't matter what anyone else says, it just matters what you think of yourself. If you go back there and act like you don't care about what they're saying, they'll stop talking about you."

"But I do care," Miley sobbed.

"That's why it's called acting," Lily said.

"I'm a horrible actor," Miley muttered.

Lily laughed. "Are you joking? You're an amazing actor. Whenever you have your Hannah wig on and you're on that stage, it's like you've been a pop star all your life! And then you come back to school and pretend that you weren't at a cool after party the night before with Jesse McCartney."

"That's because Miley Stewart _wasn't_ at a cool after party with Jesse McCartney," Miley muttered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "That was Hannah and Lola."

"Hey, look, Miley, I… I'm sorry for what I said yesterday," Lily said. "I thought… I don't even know what I was thinking. And now I can't blame it on when I hit myself on the head, either, because it's been over a month."

Miley giggled and Lily smiled. "Hey, there's the Smiley Miley I know," she said. "But I really am sorry, okay? And… I want to know if it's too late."

"For what?" Miley asked, sniffing.

"To ask to be your girlfriend," Lily said.

"Really?" Miley asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Lily said, nodding. "I know I was a really big jerk yesterday, and I know that you probably hate me right now, but we've always had our fights, haven't we? And we always end up making up in the end?"

"Now you're taking things from my apology speech," Miley said.

"It wasn't copyrighted," Lily joked.

"I think I would really like to date you, Lily Truscott," Miley whispered.

"You think?" Lily asked.

"I know," Miley said, and she took Lily's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together and grinning widely.

_**Okay, I'm explaining. What happened is I forgot to put in a chapter, which is now chapter three. Every other chapter after that has been moved up, although they all have the same names. So, to make it simple, Chapter 3 is new and this chapter is new. I'm really sorry about this. I can't believe I missed putting that chapter in. Sorry.**_

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**_

_**Meg J**_

_**lita rocks LbC**_

_**freakinacage1234**_

_**CandiceDiva1330**_

_**Itmeansnothing**_

_**Once again, I'm sorry about everything. I still can't believe I did this. I feel like an idiot. Wow. If you stick with me after this, you have my admiration. (By the way, I'm usually not this stupid.) Thank you all for enduring this torture, and please REVIEW!! Thanks again, and I'm sorry.**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	8. Chapter Seven: Telling Oliver

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"So, um, how do you want to do this?" Miley asked nervously as she carefully helped Lily into a standing position. "Do… do you want to keep our relationship a secret or… or do you want to, um…?"

"I think we should tell Oliver before we tell the whole school," Lily said, leaning on her crutches for support. "If he finds out with everyone else, he might freak out just as much. And… I think he still likes me, so that won't really help our cause, either. As long as we tell him first, I'm fine with everything."

"When should we tell him?" Miley asked as they walked back towards the school. The first bell had already rung and they were late for their first class, but they walked slowly anyways, savoring the time with each other. "Do you want to tell him at lunch, or after school, or this weekend…?"

"Maybe we should tell him after school today," Lily said. "I mean, I want to tell him as soon as possible, but this way, we can ensure that our conversation is private and he'll have time to cool off before he has to see us again. And he'll have more time to get used to it before we tell the rest of the school about our relationship. He's our best friend, Miley, I think we owe him that much, at least."

"Okay," Miley said, nodding her head. She opened the door for Lily and followed her into the school. "Now how are we going to get out of getting in trouble for being late for class?"

"I can handle that," someone said from behind them, and Amber held out two passes for them, signed by the principal. "But you'd better get to class quickly. If you're too late, the teachers might go to the principal and find out that those are fakes, and all three of us will get into trouble."

"Why are you doing this for us?" Miley asked.

"Because my school needs to be perfect," Amber said, turning on her heel and walking away.

"What's with her?" Miley asked.

"I don't know, but do you think she heard our conversation?" Lily asked, staring after her until she disappeared around a corner.

"All I know is that she's going to want something later, and we probably won't want to give it to her," Miley said, looking down at the hall passes in her hand. "But we'd better take her advice and get to class. I don't want to get in trouble for this."

They hurried to their first class, handing the passes to the teacher who just glanced at them and threw them away as he usually did with all of the passes they'd ever given them. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lily sat down in her seat, laying her crutches down on the ground and pulling her textbook out of her bag.

The rest of the day went by slowly for Lily, the only part she really enjoyed being lunch because she got to spend time with Miley. She wanted to just talk and talk and talk with her about everything that had happened within the past month, but they couldn't do anything that would make it look like they were together because Oliver was watching them carefully along with the rest of the school.

"So you guys worked everything out," he said once they all sat down at their usual lunch table. Both Lily and Miley had brought their own lunches, but Oliver had bought lunch. Today was meatloaf, made out of mystery meat, and he dug right in to the disgust of both Miley and Lily.

"How can you eat that stuff?" Miley asked. "You don't even know what's in it."

"I don't think you want to know what's in it," Lily said, pulling out pizza wrapped in tin foil, some cookies in a plastic bag, a container of milk, and a bag of chips. "See, this is why I like bringing my own lunch. I know what's in it and it isn't disgusting."

Oliver shrugged. "It tastes just like my mom's meatloaf," he said, spraying sauce and meat all over the table.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Miley squealed, wiping her area of the table off with a napkin. "Oliver, that's disgusting. Just… don't talk while you're eating."

"But…"

"No," Lily said, unwrapping her pizza and biting into it. Miley smiled at her and she smiled back, swallowing her pizza with difficulty. They looked away from each other when Oliver cleared his throat and both were suddenly very interested in their food. Oliver looked back and forth between them, an expression of confusion on his face, before shrugging and going back to his meatloaf.

"This is really awkward," he said after a few minutes of silence. Everyone in the cafeteria was still watching them and all three of them were becoming more and more aware of it with every passing moment.

"I'll take care of this," Miley murmured in Lily's ear. She then stood up, crossing her arms over her chest, and started to address the whole cafeteria. "Hi, my name is Miley Stewart," she said. "Obviously you don't know me because you can't seem to take your eyes off my table. That's Oliver Oaken and Lily Truscott. Now I would really appreciate it you would all get a dang life and stop staring at us!"

"But they do know us," Oliver said as Miley sat down.

"Doughnut," Miley and Lily said at the same time, grinning at each other and going back to their food before anyone could catch them staring at each other.

After school, Lily's mom drove into the parking lot to pick her up, and Lily almost laughed at the look of surprise that appeared on her face when she saw Miley standing next to her. She quickly replaced the look with a smile and parked in front of the entrance, getting out and heading over to the two girls.

"You two finally make up?" she asked.

"Yeah," Miley said as she glanced over at Lily. "Do you think you could give me a ride home? My dad was supposed to pick me up today, but he called and asked me to get a ride with Oliver. Oliver's already left…"

"You should know that you don't even have to ask," Mrs. Truscott said, helping Lily into the back seat. "Go ahead and climb into the front seat. Lily's gonna need the whole back seat to stretch out."

"Thanks," Miley said, getting into the front seat as Lily settled in the back. "Hey, um, Mrs. Truscott, would you mind if Lily came over to do homework with me? We haven't hung out in awhile and… well, I kind of miss her, you know?"

"Kind of?" Lily protested from the back.

Mrs. Truscott and Miley laughed. "Sure," Mrs. Truscott said. "When do you want me to pick her up?"

"We'll drop her off," Miley said. "Does eleven o'clock sound good?"

"How about she just sleeps over?" Mrs. Truscott suggested. "I have a feeling you girls have a lot to talk about. Lily, just give me a call before you go to bed tonight, no matter how late it is, before school tomorrow, and then after school. If you want to come over after school, Miley, you're more than welcome."

"Thanks again, Mrs. Truscott," Miley said as they pulled into the driveway of her house. "And I'll make sure Lily calls you since she always forgets."

"You know, I'm sitting right here," Lily complained. "I can hear every single word you're saying. And you can ask me my opinion on stuff, too. What if I hadn't wanted to sleep over tonight?"

"But you do," Miley said pointedly, unbuckling and getting out of the car. Mrs. Truscott helped Lily out of the car.

"That isn't the point," Lily said.

"Lily, I'm going to drop off your stuff later, okay?" Mrs. Truscott said, accompanying the two girls to the door. "I'll call before I come so I'm not interrupting something, okay?"

"I have pajamas she can borrow, and clothes she can wear to school tomorrow," Miley said, getting both of their book bags out of the car.

"She needs her medication," Mrs. Truscott said, and Miley blushed in embarrassment. "Hopefully she won't need it soon, though. She has an appointment on Monday with the doctor and he'll be telling us if she can walk without the crutches."

"Really, I love how you guys talk about me when I'm right here," Lily said sarcastically. "It really makes me feel loved. Thanks guys."

"And I love how people say they love something when they really hate it," Miley retorted, smiling.

"You're doing the same thing," Lily said grumpily, slowly heading up the stairs and to the door. "Okay, mom, you can go now. I'm pretty sure I don't need you to hover two inches away from me every step to the house. I can manage by myself. Besides, I'll be seeing you later so you can check up on me, okay?"

Mrs. Truscott hesitated. "Okay, then," she said, reluctantly heading back to her car. "I guess I'll see you in a few hours, then. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Fine," Lily called over her shoulder as Miley opened the door and let her in.

"I'm going to go dump these in my room, make yourself at home," Miley said, racing up the stairs to her room as Lily headed for the couch and the TV remote. Miley walked back in just as she sat down and turned on the TV, which was turned to the local news channel.

"…And more recently and worrying, where has Hannah Montana gone?" the news reporter was asking, standing in front of an image of said pop star. Lily's eyes were glued to the TV, her mouth hanging open in astonishment. "She hasn't been seen in over a month, missing several concerts, CD signings, and interviews. Fans are being refunded for their tickets and Hannah's manager has said that she is, quote, '…Going through a period in her life that needs some getting used to. I'm sure she'll be back on track before we know it and all of this will be forgotten.' Well, until she reappears to the public eye, we'll still be wondering where she's gone. Now for the local news…"

Lily turned off the TV and turned to look at Miley, who was biting her lip nervously. "What's happened to Hannah?" Lily whispered after a moment.

"You heard the news reporter," Miley said, looking down at her feet. "She's going through a period in her life that needs some getting used to. You didn't think I could go to all of that Hannah stuff without you did you? I mean, yeah, I've done it before, but I couldn't do it while we were fighting. It just… wouldn't be right."

"This is all because of me?" Lily asked, eyes wide.

Miley shrugged. "I couldn't go without your support," she said, still looking down at her feet. "Even if you couldn't go to a concert, you would call before and tell me that you were cheering me on."

"But you have hundreds of thousands of fans out there wondering where you are," Lily said. "Maybe even millions! And you just abandoned them all because of me?"

"Not because of you. _For_ you. I would do anything for you," Miley whispered, smiling nervously at Lily. "I wasn't going to take a chance that you would be watching my concerts. I didn't want you to think that not being friends with you wasn't really affecting me."

"You should have kept going to all of your Hannah stuff," Lily said.

"It wasn't just that, though," Miley said quickly. "Whenever I tried singing, I kept getting the notes wrong, forgetting the lyrics, or just breaking down in the middle of the song. _True Friend_ was the worst. I couldn't even sing that song. I've been practicing with the band, but they haven't been good practices. They probably all think that this is the end of Hannah Montana."

"When's the next scheduled concert?" Lily asked.

"Tomorrow night," Miley whispered.

"You're going," Lily said with finality. "No arguing. And I'm going, too. You're going to get back out on that stage and sing your heart out and you're going to wonder why you ever stopped because it's going to be so good."

"My dad was already planning on cancelling it," Miley protested. "And what about going over to your house after school? Your mom will…"

"I think it's time we told my mom about Hannah Montana and Lola Luftnagle," Lily said cautiously, watching Miley's face for her reaction. "She deserves to know where I am, especially since I got hurt. She worries about me a lot more than she used to and I don't want to go behind her back anymore."

Miley sighed. "Do you think she'll get mad?" she asked after a moment.

"No, I don't think so," Lily said. "She might ask for you autograph and stuff, and then she'll go on and on about why I stopped going ballistic every time Hannah Montana came on TV like I used to…"

"Define ballistic," Miley said.

"To become overwrought or become irrational," Lily said automatically.

"I meant for you to tell me what you did every time you went ballistic," Miley said, rolling her eyes.

"Um, I ran into the living room, turned up the volume as loud as it could go, stayed glued to the TV until a commercial break or something, and then I would beg my mom to take me to a Hannah Montana concert," Lily mumbled, looking down as her face got redder and redder.

"Who knew that my girlfriend would be obsessed with me before she even met me," Miley laughed, sitting down next to Lily.

"Yeah, um, we have to talk about that, too," Lily said.

"What do we have to talk about?" Miley asked, confused.

"Who we're going to tell before we announce our relationship to the whole school," Lily said. "And when we're going to tell them."

"I can call Oliver and invite him over really quick," Miley said. "I think the sooner we tell him, the better, because he's going to have more time to recover before tomorrow."

"Okay, what about our parents and your brother?" Lily asked.

"Um, we can tell my dad any time, but I think we should tell him just before we go to school tomorrow so we don't have to deal with the whole dating rules thing tonight," Miley said. "That would be really awkward. And I would probably be sleeping on the couch with my dad sleeping in the hallway to make sure I don't try to sneak back into my room to be with you."

"We wouldn't be doing anything, though," Lily protested, her cheeks blushing a deep red again.

"I know, but try to convince my dad," Miley said.

"It's not like either of us would get pregnant, anyways," Lily muttered, making Miley blush an even deeper red than Lily.

"That's definitely a plus," she murmured. "I'm going to have to remember to bring that up with my dad."

"And what about your brother?" Lily asked.

"Same time," Miley said easily, obviously relieved to have the subject changed. "And what about your mom?"

"Well, I don't really want to drop the Hannah bomb on her at the same time as this," Lily said. "That might be a bit of an overload. She might explode from all that information. I say tomorrow after school. We can go over to my house and do homework for awhile, and then head back over here to get ready for the Hannah concert."

"That works," Miley said, nodding. "Now we have to tell Oliver. Should I call him or text him?"

"Text him, he never picks up his phone," Lily said, turning the TV back on and flipping through the channels. "And tell him to text back when he starts heading over. I don't want him just barging in."

"Hey, it's my house," Miley joked, pulling out her phone.

"Yeah, but I'm the injured one," Lily said absently, still changing the channels. "There's nothing good on."

"Do you want me to put a movie in?" Miley asked, putting her phone back in her pocket after she pressed the send button. "Just pick something, you know what we have."

"Um… I don't know, you choose," Lily said.

Miley picked a random DVD and stuck it in the DVD player, sitting down next to Lily who changed the channel so they could watch the movie. She leaned her head on Miley's shoulder, smiling when Miley put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"How do you think Oliver's going to react?" Lily murmured after a moment.

"I don't know," Miley said. "I just hope we're still friends after this. He still has a crush on you, you know. He's never gotten over you."

"How do you know that?" Lily asked, lifting her head and looking at Miley.

"He told me," Miley said, shrugging. Lily glared at her and she sighed. "It was when we weren't talking. We hung out a lot at school because you weren't there. He said he wished that you two hadn't broken up. How _did_ you break up? You never told me and he didn't say anything."

"Yeah, I can understand why he wouldn't say anything about that," Lily said, grimacing. "It wasn't exactly very… manly for him. I broke up with him, which isn't the worst part. I told him that I just didn't feel that way about him anymore and I didn't want to lie to him and carry on a fake relationship. He started crying and begging me not to break up with me. Actually, he did a lot of things, like promising to take me out more and buy me more things. It didn't work out too well. He was pretty hurt."

"I can see why he didn't say anything," Miley said. "That would be pretty embarrassing for the Smokin' Oaken."

They both smiled at Oliver's nickname for himself and Miley's cell phone started ringing in her pocket. She took it out and opened it, typing out a quick text, and sending it before putting it back in her pocket. "Oliver's coming right now," she said.

"Yikes," Lily said, leaning back into Miley. "I'm actually kind of nervous about this. What the heck are we watching?"

"Um, _Finding Nemo_ I think," Miley said.

"Of all the movies…"

"I just picked something and stuck it in cause I wanted to hurry up and sit next to my beautiful girlfriend," Miley said.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Lily said, smiling.

There was a knock on the door and the girls shot apart, Lily suddenly focused on the movie and Miley turning around to see Oliver standing at the door. "Come on in, it's unlocked!" she yelled.

"What's up?" Oliver asked, walking in and sitting down between the two girls. Miley and Lily glanced at each other, giving each other a look that said 'as if this wasn't going to be hard enough.'

"Um, me and Lily…"

"Lily and I," Lily automatically corrected, biting on her fingernails nervously.

"Well, Lily and I, then. Are you happy?" Miley snapped.

"Hey, guys, if you want to tell me something, just tell me," Oliver said. "No need to be nervous. I won't freak out."

"How do you know that we're nervous?" Miley asked defensively.

"Um, Lily's biting her nails and correcting you, and you're snapping at her and getting all defensive," Oliver said. "I know my two best friends well enough, thank you very much. Now what do you want to tell me?"

"Yeah, um…" Lily trailed off.

"Oliver, uh, Lily and I are… we're… oh, how do I put this?" Miley muttered.

"Dating?" Lily offered.

Oliver glanced between the two of them, his jaw dropping open and his eyes getting wide. "This is why you broke up with me, isn't it?" he asked Lily.

"Um, yeah," she whispered.

_**Thank you all for sticking with me, even after I messed up the story by leaving a chapter out. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**_

_**itmeansnothing**_

_**freakinacage1234**_

_**CandiceDiva1330**_

_**And thank you to everyone else who reviewed. I'll be getting the next chapter up as soon as possible, so please REVIEW. Thank you all again!**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	9. Chapter Eight: Reaction Time

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"Is this some joke?" Oliver asked, standing up and turning to face the two of them together. "You guys are getting me back for something, aren't you? Okay, very funny, ha ha, joke's over, I see right through it, okay?"

"This isn't a joke, Oliver," Miley said, biting her lip nervously. "We wanted to tell you before anyone else, even before our parents. You're our best friend, Oliver; we trust you, and we wanted to show you that we trust you."

Oliver looked at Lily, who nodded. "It's true," she whispered, looking down at her hands. "Look, Oliver, we don't want to hurt you…"

"Oh, thanks for taking me into account," he said, interrupting her. "No need, though, really. You don't have to ask me how I feel about this. You don't have to ask how I feel about my ex girlfriend, now best friend, dating my other best friend, because you know that we're best friends and best friends are okay with everything, right?"

"Please, Oliver…" Lily started.

"I know why you dated me," he said. "You loved Miley; you always have, since you first set eyes on her. I could see it in the way you looked at her. But when you went on the first date with me, I was convinced that everything I saw in those looks was something I had been making up. I thought that I actually had a chance of getting your love, and even better, keeping it! But I had no chance against her."

Miley opened her mouth to speak, but Oliver held up his finger, a maniacal grin on his face. "But it gets better," he said. "You broke up with me, and you lied about why you broke up with me. I told you that I would do anything, I would be a better boyfriend, I would take you out more, spend more time with you, give you more gifts, but you said that you didn't like me anymore. That you could only be friends. You weren't interested in anyone."

"You have to understand…" Lily said.

"But I do," he said, shaking his head. "I understand everything now. That fight you and Miley had, it was over your whole relationship. I had suspected, but I was hoping that I was wrong. Your miraculous new relationship is due to Amber and Ashley manipulating the situation, getting you two into the right place at the right time. There's no doubt that it would have happened eventually, but they decided to do it now."

"I'm sorry, Oliver, but… but I really like Lily…"

"And I really like her back," Lily said as Miley slid over on the couch next to her. "I'm sorry that you can't accept that, but this relationship between me and Miley isn't going to change because you don't approve of it."

"You two are disgusting," Oliver whispered. "There are laws against this in the Bible, you know. And you both know that my family is very religious. I'm not going to go against them. I agree with them on this. Being with the same gender like this is unlawful and wrong and a sin."

"We both know that you don't believe that," Lily whispered, looking at Oliver.

"I do believe that," Oliver said. "And I hope you two have wonderful, sin-filled lives because I'm never going to talk to you again. You're both disgusting, lawless… things. I don't even know what to call you. People who act like you aren't people anymore."

He stalked out of the house, banging the door shut behind him. They heard someone talking outside and Oliver's sharp reply before the door opened again and Jackson walked through, looking confused and hurt. "What's up with Oliver?" he asked. "Did you guys get in a fight again?"

"Sort of," Miley said cautiously, glancing over at Lily anxiously, who was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Jackson asked, looking at the two of them.

"Uh…" Lily said, glancing over at Miley.

"Jackson, there's something we want to tell you, but you have to promise to keep it a secret, and definitely not tell Daddy," Miley said.

"Not tell me what?" Mr. Stewart said, walking into the room.

"I'm pretty interested to hear this, too," Mrs. Truscott said, walking in behind Mr. Stewart. "This must concern my daughter ."

"Why does nothing ever work out the way it's supposed to?" Lily asked.

"If you two are hiding something from us, you'd better tell us right now," Mr. Stewart said threateningly with his arms crossed over his chest. "You aren't pregnant, are you?"

"Pregnant?" Miley asked, and Lily burst into laughter, Miley soon joining her.

"What's so funny?" Mr. Stewart demanded.

"We're… the farthest… thing… you could get… from being… pregnant," Lily managed to say through her laughter, and she just laughed harder, her face getting redder and redder as it became harder for her to breathe.

"You two stop laughing right now and tell us what's going on," Mr. Stewart said sternly. "I have a feeling that it has something to do with Oliver stalking out looking angry. Now you two had better hurry up and start explaining."

"This isn't really the way we wanted to tell you," Miley said after both she and Lily had calmed down enough to talk. "But you have to promise that you won't get mad at us, okay?"

"Did you do something wrong?" Mrs. Truscott asked.

"It depends on how you look at it," Lily said. "If you're Oliver, then yes, what we did was wrong. What we're _doing_ is wrong."

"I get it," Jackson suddenly said, his eyes getting wide.

"You do?" Miley and Lily asked together.

"Okay, now we're the only ones in the dark," Mrs. Truscott said.

"Yes, please, enlighten us," Mr. Stewart said.

"Me and Lily…" Miley started.

"Lily and I," Lily automatically corrected.

"Will you quit it with that?" Miley asked, swatting at Lily playfully. "Fine, Lily and I are… we're dating."

"Who?" Mrs. Truscott asked.

"Each other!" Jackson yelled, a grin on his face. "I told you, Dad, I told you they would get together! They've been looking at each other like that ever since I first saw them together! Ha! You owe me fifty bucks!"

"Who knew you would actually be right?" Mr. Stewart murmured to himself, pulling out his wallet, and to Miley and Lily's amazement, handing Jackson two twenties and a ten. "That boy is more insightful than I thought he was."

"Yes!" Jackson yelled, punching his fist in the air. "Here comes my next date with Katie! I told you, I told you, I told you…"

He skipped out of the room and Miley and Lily stared after him, identical looks of shock on their faces. They turned to Mr. Stewart and Mrs. Truscott, who both had amused expression on their faces.

"You knew this whole time?" Lily whispered.

Mrs. Truscott nodded. "It's a little obvious," she said. "I mean, you girls might not have known it at the time, but me and Miley's dad have been talking about the possibility of the two of you getting together for awhile. We weren't sure, but we suspected that this was why you two were fighting for so long. The only reason we didn't bring it up to you two girls is because we didn't want to embarrass you."

"Well, Jackson did a pretty good job of that," Miley muttered.

Mr. Stewart chuckled. "Don't worry about him," he said. "He won't be telling anyone. Your secret is safe with us."

"We're not keeping it a secret," Miley said.

"It's not like it's going to stay a secret with us telling Oliver," Lily said angrily.

"That's why he's upset?" Mr. Stewart asked.

"Yeah, he said that it's wrong for us to be dating each other," Lily said. "He thinks we're disgusting and he never wants to talk to us again. I can't believe our best friend would do that to us."

"You have to look at it from Oliver's point of view…" Mr. Stewart started.

"Yeah, yeah, he's seeing his ex-girlfriend dating his best friend," Miley said. "I get it, though. It was kind of awkward when Lily and Oliver were dating."

"He's also been raised in a strict Christian family that doesn't tolerate gay relationships," Mr. Stewart said. "This is the only way he knows how to react. He probably feels conflicted because you two are his best friends, but you're doing something that he's always been taught is wrong. I'm sure he'll come around in time. Until then, try not to get on his nerves and bug him. Give him space."

"We were planning on telling the whole school tomorrow," Miley whispered.

"Is that a good idea?" Mrs. Truscott asked.

"They already know that Miley's gay."

"Amber and Ashley told everyone."

"I have no idea how they knew."

"But I have a feeling they've planned this whole thing.

"They were acting really weird, weren't they?"

"But they're Amber and Ashley, they always act weird."

"Whoa, whoa, girls, slow down here," Mr. Stewart said, holding up his hands. "I have no problem with you two dating, and I have no problem with you two telling the school, but you should think it through before you do anything. Once you tell the school, you can't take it back."

"That's why we were going to do it tomorrow," Lily said.

"So we have the weekend to recover from whatever happens," Miley said.

"And the Hannah Montana concert," Mr. Stewart said, and both Miley and Lily looked at him with expressions that told him to shut up. "It's okay, she already knows. She's known ever since Lily's known."

"You know, I have this feeling that they have video cameras everywhere just watching us," Lily said. "This isn't fair. Is there anything else that you know about us that we don't know? Any other secrets you're willing to share, because I'm getting kind of annoyed by this."

"We would certainly like to know why you're watching _Finding Nemo_," Mr. Stewart said. "How long has it been since you've watched that movie? I was thinking about selling it or something."

"No, don't sell it!" Miley yelled, surprising everyone in the room. She blushed as she quietly continued. "It's the first movie Lily and I have watched as a couple."

"Why couldn't it be something romantic like _A Walk to Remember_?" Lily moaned. "If anyone ever asks what the first movie we saw together was, I'm going to have to say _Finding Nemo_."

"Hey, it's a cute movie," Miley said, wrapping an arm around Lily's shoulders. "And I'm pretty sure that this isn't anyone else's special movie. It's just yours and mine, okay? It's special."

"Um, I'll just leave Lily's stuff here," Mrs. Truscott said awkwardly. "Robby, how about you, me, and Jackson go out for dinner. It's been awhile since we've just talked over dinner. And we could give the girls some privacy. Lily, your medication is in the side pocket of your suitcase. Remember to take two every nine hours, okay? We'll be seeing you girls, then."

"That got them out of here faster than I thought it would," Miley said after they left, thoroughly surprised.

Lily leaned into Miley, stretching her legs out on the couch. "I'm glad that they left," she whispered. "It kind of unnerved me that they knew we were together before we even told them. And Jackson knowing… that was just creepy. We can't have been that obvious, I mean, really."

"Don't worry about it now," Miley said, kissing her gently on the top of the head. "Let's just watch the movie."

"_Finding Nemo_," Lily muttered. "Of all the movies you could have picked…"

"You have to admit that it would have been creepy if it were, like, _Saw_ or something," Miley said.

"But still, _Finding Nemo_…"

_**Well, there you go. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**_

_**lita rocks LbC**_

_**freakinacage1234**_

_**CandiceDiva1330**_

_**flooj9235**_

_**itmeansnothing**_

_**hayden jade**_

_**Emmalia**_

_**Megyn129**_

_**5x5shadow5**_

_**Thank you to everyone again, I'll try to update as soon as possible, so please REVIEW!!! Thank you all again.**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


	10. Chapter Nine: Afraid

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"Come on girls, I need to go to a meeting for Hannah and I can't be late," Mr. Stewart said. "Besides, you can't be late for school, either. Did you even eat breakfast this morning? You two had better be dressed or I'm just going to leave without you."

"Daddy, you're forgetting that Lily is injured," Miley said, coming down the stairs and grabbing the toast she had bribed Jackson to make for them. "It takes her a bit longer to get ready than usual, okay?"

"And what about you?" Mr. Stewart asked, his hands on his hips.

"I don't want to leave her alone up there for any longer than I have to," Miley said defensively, spreading strawberry over two of the four pieces of toast. "Do you know if we have grape jelly? Lily only likes toast with grape jelly on it and I don't want her to go without eating cause she'll be complaining all until lunch about how hungry she is."

"It's on the third shelf on the door of the refrigerator," Mr. Stewart said.

"Thanks," Miley said, pulling it out and putting it on the two remaining pieces of toast. She set them on the counter and raced back up to her room, coming back down with Lily's suitcase and both of their book bags. "Lily, did your mom have to pack a whole suitcase for you? I mean, really, you were only staying one night."

"Complain to her," Lily said, limping down the stairs on her crutches. "Sorry Mr. S, it's kind of hard to get ready with a broken hip. Hopefully I'll be able to get off these crutches on Monday, though."

"If it still hurts…" Miley said.

"I'm fine," Lily snapped. "For the fifth time in the last twenty seconds."

"Miles, you should probably calm down a bit," Mr. Stewart said. "I'm sure she gets enough of that from her mother, she doesn't need you doing it, too."

"Daddy!"

"Just saying."

"Are we going to school or not?" Lily asked, standing by the door. "I mean, we could not go to school, I really wouldn't mind that. We could stay here and watch movies, or go to the mall, or…"

"You're going to school," Mr. Stewart said with finality. He picked up Lily's suitcase and her book bag, leaving Miley to grab her own. "Come on, I'm five minutes late for the meeting already and you two are going to be late if we don't hurry up. I don't want to have to walk you in and explain to the principal why I'm not dropping you off on time, okay?"

Miley grabbed her book bag and went out to the car, helping Lily into the back seat and getting into the passenger's seat. The ride was quiet, broken only by the sighs Mr. Stewart breathed every time Miley glanced back at Lily to give her a loving smile. He pulled up to the front of the school just as the first warning bell rang, giving them five minutes to get to class.

"I'll drop your suitcase off at your house after my meeting," Mr. Stewart said to Lily as Miley helped her out of the back seat. "Have a good day, girls, and please try to stay out of trouble."

"We're going through with the plan, Daddy," Miley said.

He sighed. "I really wish you would think this through a bit longer," he said. "I don't want either of you getting hurt…"

"Look, we're going to be late for class if we don't hurry up. I'll call you later, okay? Remember, I'm going over to Lily's after school today, and then we're coming back home to get ready for the concert. See you later!"

Miley grabbed their book bags and they managed to make it to their first class just as the bell rang. The teacher glared at them until they took their seats, and then started teaching about mathematical equations. Lily took notes like she was supposed to while Miley zoned out in the first fifteen minutes, glancing around the classroom, focusing in on Amber and Ashley, who were whispering together, and Oliver, who was staring at the teacher with the attention that he had never had during class.

The bell rang and every packed their stuff up. Miley stood, waiting for Lily to finish up before following her out of the classroom. "Amber and Ashley were talking about something all class," Miley said as soon as they were out of earshot of anyone that mattered. "They weren't paying attention at all."

"And you weren't, either," Lily said, opening her locker and pulling out her books for our second class. "Miley, you can't dwell on Amber and Ashley all the time. You should actually pay attention during class…"

"Like Oliver was?" Miley asked.

Lily froze. "He was acting weird," she whispered. "Do you think he's ever going to come around?"

Oliver stalked past, kicking Miley in the back of the knee, making it look like an accident. Miley stumbled forward against the lockers, catching herself before she fell. "That would be a no," she said.

"Maybe we shouldn't have told him," Lily whispered.

"Oh, yeah, and then told the whole school, right?" Miley whispered back.

"We could've skipped that part."

"But I thought you wanted…"

"I really miss Oliver."

Miley sighed. "I know, I do, too, but it wouldn't have felt right if we hadn't told him. I would've felt really bad. He deserved to know, he was our best friend."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Amber asked, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the two of them. Ashley stood beside her, an identical look of disgust on her face. "Would you like to share it with the whole hallway?"

"You know, sometimes I really wonder about you," Miley said, opening her locker and pulling out the books she needed. "You're nice one moment, and the next, you hate us again. I would really appreciate it if you stopped going through these mood swings so fast. You're giving me whiplash."

Lily started to laugh, but stopped when Amber and Ashley stepped closer to them, so close that their faces were almost touching. "Meet us behind the school in the orchard at lunch time," she whispered. "Trust me, please."

Amber and Ashley walked away, leaving Miley and Lily staring after them in confusion. "Since when does something like that happen?" Miley asked.

"Do you think we should go?" Lily asked.

"I'm going," Miley said. "And I don't care if I get in trouble. They could be setting us up to get in trouble, telling a teacher that we're skipping school and stuff, but I'll just tell them that they told us to me them there. I want to know what this is all about. It's confusing."

"Well, then I'm going, too," Lily said.

Lunch came and Lily and Miley left the building through a back door, heading towards the orchard behind the school where Amber and Ashley were supposed to meet them. They found them standing under one of the apple trees, talking with each other urgently. As soon as they realized the two girls were walking towards them, they both shut up and turned to face them.

"We weren't sure if you would come," Amber said, relief showing on her face clearly. "We wanted to talk to you about something…"

"Why couldn't we just do this in the lunch room?" Lily complained.

"Because I don't want anyone overhearing this," Amber said, looking around to make sure no one was listening in. "Look, I know you're really confused about the way me and Ashley have been acting, but the truth is… we've wanted the two of you to get together for a long time."

"And why is that?" Miley asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They didn't want to be the first ones to announce their relationship," Lily said. "They wanted someone else to be gay together before them so they could see how everyone reacted. What they don't realize that it isn't how everyone else reacts that matters, but it's how _they_ react is what matters. Everyone else reacts based on how they do. So if you accept us, everyone else will."

Amber and Ashley looked at Miley and Lily in surprise. "But how… how did you know?" Amber whispered.

Lily shrugged. "It's something I've sort of always known," she said. "I mean, it was kind of obvious when I saw you two kissing under the mistletoe at the Christmas party last year."

"You never told me that," Miley said accusingly.

"It never came up," Lily said, and she turned to Amber and Ashley. "So, am I right? Is that the reason you wanted us to get together?"

"Yes," Ashley said. "We were scared. I mean, aren't you scared that everyone will hate you when they find out that you're together?"

"Doesn't worry me much," Miley said. "I mean, really, it isn't like we're the most popular girls in the school. Now if we were popular, I would really worry about it because so many people would dislike us for being so mean to them."

Amber's face fell. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But… you two were a threat. You were too likable, everyone would have liked you a whole lot more than they would have liked us."

"I don't really want to help you," Miley said.

"Me neither," Lily said. "Actually, I'm getting hungry and the salami sandwich I packed for lunch is calling to me. Come on, Miley, let's go." They both turned to leave.

"Please," Ashley said, making them both stop in their tracks. "We're not asking you to help us keep our popularity; we're asking you to help us… come out with our relationship. We're tired of keeping it a secret and we want to be able to… to show affection for each other when other people are in the room."

Lily turned to the two popular girls. "Just do it, then," she said. "There's no one stopping you but yourselves. You shouldn't care what anyone else thinks." She turned back to Miley and they headed off to the cafeteria to eat lunch.

_**There you go. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**_

_**CandiceDiva1330**_

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_**Once again, thank you all for posting your thoughts. I don't know why I put Finding Nemo in that last chapter, but I really do love that movie. :) You guys have no idea how encouraging it is to see so much good feedback. I really appreciate it. If it wasn't for all of you, I probably wouldn't have continued this story. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible, so please REVIEW!!! Thank you all again!**_

_**ReallyObsessiveWriter**_


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